This acrobatic shot in traffic by North Adams’ Jayce Rothwell came with 1:22 remaining in the game and gave the Devils a 55-50 lead over the Peebles Indians. The Devils held on for the 63-54 win to stay unbeaten in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play. (Photo by Patrice Yezzi England)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
There are two things that can be counted on when the Peebles and North Adams boys basketball teams get together- a packed house of excitable fans and four quarters of intense rivalry basketball. Both of those were evident on December 20 when the Indians made the short trek down Route 32 to Seaman to battle the host Green Devils. The Indians were coming off a tough home loss to Fairfield while the Devils’ previous outing was a 33-point win over Whiteoak, but throw all that out the window when the red and green mix it up.
In this Friday night encounter, it was the Green Devils who struck first, using a first quarter 10-0 run, sparked by a Konnor Rogers three-pointer, to take an early 12-2 advantage. A pair of three-balls from Hayden Browning helped the visitors cut the gap but another Rogers trey plus a bucket by Caleb DeAtley left the home team up 19-12 after one.
As the second quarter progressed, the Devils maintained their lead, aided by a pair of scores in the paint from freshman Carson Davis, and a third Rogers three-point goal upped the lead to double digits at 28-17. The Tribe responded with a 6-0 burst, getting two scores from senior Garrett Shiveley and a basket in the half’s final seconds from Grady Knechtly pulled Peebles within 30-25 at the break.
The momentum for the Indians carried over into the third quarter and three-pointers from Shiveley and Josh McClary cut the deficit to a single score at 33-31. North Adams answered with consecutive threes from Breestin Schweikart and Connor Young to push the lead back to eight. The Devils led 44-37 after yet another three-point goal, this one from Carson Osborne, but the Indians closed the third stanza with a 6-0 run and the game headed to the final period with the home team clinging to a slim one-point lead, 44-43.
With 5:40 left in the game, a basket by McClary gave the Indians their first lead of the night at 47-46. A Jayce Rothwell three gave the lead back to the Devils and it was the senior point guard who took over the game in the final minutes, hitting a pair of free throws and then after a Young steal, scoring on an acrobatic layup to put his team up 55-50 with 1:22 left. With 45 seconds left, Rothwell hit the first of two free tosses and on the missed second shot, Schweickart snagged the offensive rebound and score to make it 59-52. Two late scores from Davis and Schweickart accounted for the final score, 63-54 in favor of North Adams.
The win improved the Devils to 5-1 on the season (now 6-1 after a follow-up December 21 win over Williamsburg) and they were led against Peebles by three players in double figures Rogers and Schweickart with 14 each and Davis with 10. North Adams also improved to 5-0 in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play.
Peebles fell to 3-3 on the year (3-2 SHAC) and also had three players hit double figures, led by 12 from Browning, with Shiveley adding 11 and McClary 10.
